OSPREY

LOA 16ft

Beam 10ft

Approximate stripped weight 80lbs

Approximate rigged weight 200lbs

Osprey is our most seaworthy, most comfortable, easiest to sail and fastest sailing canoe.

Osprey can be assembled and disassembled in only a few minutes without tools and is car toppable.

This is the prototype OSPREY with a full deck.  

We designed this boat for our own use  - as a more seaworthy canoe for coastal cruising and camping but we think she has a much wider appeal. 

She’s fast and will not capsize and these qualities make her particularly suitable for anyone who doesn't want a racing dinghy but wants something a bit more lively than a “traditional” dinghy. 

Providing you have some helpers an unexpected but most valuable feature of Osprey is that it is very easy to carry over rough ground. The beams provide an easy and balanced two handed lift with a good view of where you are putting your feet.

Stability makes it easy to reef or furl the sails on the water.

An experimental staysail. Fun in light airs and it certainly makes the boat go faster - but that means you have to wait longer for your friends to catch up. Also it restricts your visibility, takes time to set up and complicates tacking.

Steve Robinson in Osprey was the overall winner of the OCSG ranking series in 2003.

What are the disadvantages?

Well, it won’t go through a very narrow gap and it takes up a lot of room on the beach, it’s expensive and it’s a more seaworthy boat than many canoeists think they need.

Perhaps the main problem is that it is just too easy to sail; you may miss the constant response to the needs of the boat which is necessary to sail a monohull canoe really well and which for many people is the chief joy of sailing.

'Trimarcisia' one of the plywood outrigger canoes on which OSPREY is based. 

More pictures in the article:       'A New Canoe'

Six sailing canoes including two Ospreys set sail from Crinnan on the west coast of Scotland.  

                                                              Under Seil Bridge

Four Ospreys toured the Sound of Sleat; to read Jan's account of this, her first sea trip

click: Janet Jones Diary